At Fort Clatsop, various hunters try to supply fresh elk, and the salt brought from the salt camp on 5 January runs out. Lewis describes the western bracken fern and how it is prepared and eaten by Chinookan Peoples.
Western Bracken Fern, Pteridium aquilinum
Fort-to-Sea Trail, Fort Clatsop National Historical Park
© 17 December 2010 by Kristopher K. Townsend. Permission to use granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Active Hunters
The party sent for the meat this morning returned with it in the Evening; it was in very inferior order, in short the animals were poor. Reubin Fields also remained with the other hunters Shannon & Labuish our late supply of salt is out. we have not yet heared a sentence from the other two parties of hunter’s who are below us towards Point Adams and the Praries.
—Meriwether Lewis
Dead Bracken Fern
this plant produces no flower or fruit whatever, is of a fine green colour in summar and a beautifull plant. the top is annual and is of course dead at present.—
—Meriwether Lewis
Pungent Bracken Fern Roots
There are three speies of fern in this neighbourhood the root one of which the natves eat; this grows very abundant in the open uplands and praries where the latter are not sandy and consist of deep loose rich black lome . . . . the root is roasted in the embers is much like wheat dough and not very unlike it in flavour, though it has also a pungency which becomes more visible after you have chewed it some little time; this pungency was disagreeable to me, but the naives eat it very voraciously and I have no doubt but it is a very nutricious food.
—Meriwether Lewis
Weather Diary
aspect of the weather at rise
Wind at Weather at 4 OC. P.M. Wind at 4 OC. P.M. rain after rain S W cloudy after rain S W wind violent last night & this morning
—Meriwether Lewis[1]To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the “Day of the month” column and spelled out some abbreviations.
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Notes
| ↑1 | To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the “Day of the month” column and spelled out some abbreviations. |
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